Riding with RoboCop

I found him out patrolling hole 13 at the Morris Country Club on Monday afternoon. It was a bright and glorious day to cover a tournament. Well, I wasn't exactly out to cover the Annual Morris Hospital Fundraising Tournament as I was there to watch the action on 13.

It was there at the Par 3, 135-yard expanse that I ran into RoboCop.

"Hi, I'm Jim Thornton," he said sticking out his right hand and giving me a firm handshake.

I knew the former Bears' tight end was going to be out there helping the hospital raise money, but didn't know how or why until I got there. I quickly explained why I was there and then got out of his way to watch what was transpiring.

A foursome had just rolled up including Harold Vinyard, Terry Simpkin, Bruce Rash and Brian Bunte where they were greeted first by Ginny Kelly and then RoboCop.

"I like to be out here to greet all of our guests to support the Morris Hospital," Kelly told me. "There are a lot of volunteers out here all over the place either on the course or in the packed clubhouse where there are bridge and euchre tournaments going on."

As I was to later find out from Julie Wilkinson and Valerie Starr, it was all in an effort to raise money for the hospital to purchase another transportation bus and for Lifeline, an emergency response system. Both are paid for by donations or subscriptions to the hospital.

I sat back and took pictures of the group who were playing the hole competitively against RoboCop with a $5 donation, which could be won back if they beat Thornton.

As they all took off to the green, I asked Jim if I could ride with him in his cart and ask some quick questions about the event and he obliged.

Q: Do you golf events like this a lot?

A: "I golf charity events a lot, but I don't usually sit at a hole the entire day. It makes for a long day."

Q: How did you get involved?

A: "It's good for our relationship with the Morris Hospital."

Q: When you say "our" who do you mean?

A: "I work for Alper Services, which is an insurance provider for Morris Hospital. This is obviously strengthening our relationship together and helping raise money at the same time."

That was about all I could get in the short ride up to the green but then took the time to take more pictures before watching him shake hands with that foursome and then turning back for the tee on 13.

Q: How did you get involved with Alper?

A: "After I retired, I went into financial services and then eventually went into corporate insurance. I can tell you that I love what I do."

Q: Do you love it as much as you did playing football?

A: "Well, I do love football, but unfortunately most only get to stay in the game for only a few years. The average time in the NFL is 2 1/2 years. It never enters into people's minds that's how long the average NFL career is. I feel lucky enough to have played eight. The saying is you can't look back and I wouldn't change anything, anyway. I made a lot of great friends through football. Friends that I am going to have for life."

The next foursome was waiting when we got back up the hill and I went and sat in a nearby golf cart with event volunteer Maureen Keegan. Jim was autographing golf balls when I asked Keegan, golf pro John Keegan's wife, what she thought of RoboCop's swing.

"He has a beautiful golf swing," she said. "He seems to be very consistent with where he's landing the ball."

It looked as though Thornton was using a pitching wedge to attack the hole but Keegan reported that people were using "everything from a 5 iron to a pitching wedge." to try and best Thornton.

She also said she was enjoying watching the people at the event interact with the affable former Bear.

"I think because Jim is such a personable guy that everyone is enjoying being here," she said.

I asked Jim once again (actually, this time I just assumed) if I could ride and ask a few more questions in the allotted time it takes a cart to traverse 135 yards. Since I heard him answering some questions along the way, I asked him which questions he gets asked the most at events like these.

A: "Usually people want to know if I was in the Super Bowl Shuffle or most will tell me they remember the catch I made where I ended up with grass in my helmet."

Q: And what is your response?

A: "I tell them that, no, I wasn't in the Super Bowl Shuffle because I can dance and, the thing about the other question about the grass in the helmet — that was actually Cap Boso. I just usually go along with it."

Q: Do you have any specific memories of your playing days in college or in the pros?

A: "There's so many memories. I think the one that stands out the most is the Fog Bowl though, because I had never experienced anything like that before. You couldn't see anything from here to that tree — and we played through it. That situation was about as unique as it gets. Of course, playing in front of 80,000 people was also a fun thing."

What he was referring to was the 1988 playoff game at Soldier Field between the Bears and the Eagles on New Year's Eve. Chicago went up 17-9 before a thick fog bank rolled over the field, obscuring the vision of most everybody at the event. The Bears eventually won 20-12 but not before creating an NFL moment for the ages.

Eventually, I got around to asking Thornton about where he got his nickname as he went to play his ball on the green.

"Dan Hampton gave it to me on my first day with the team," he said. "I was ushered into a small room and given the nickname, just like all the rookie players were."

It is an apparent reference to the movie in the 1980 of the same name — RoboCop — and to the unusually large biceps Thornton had after graduating from Cal State Fullerton.

Now 45, Thornton still looks good and I asked him if he still works out.

"I work out a little, but I'm not close to being where I used to be," he said. "I used to work out all of the time but now it down to a couple of times a week. I've been trying to keep the pounds off ... it's amazing what happens when you stop working out."

After deciding I'd been in the way long enough, I let Thornton go about his business and was able to get the lowdown from Wilkinson how they got Jim involved in the event.

"Chris Breck works for Alper Services, where Jim works, and he ran into Tom Meyer, our acting CEO, and they struck up a conversation back in March about our golf outing," she said. "Chris said he may have a way of making the tournament more memorable and when he asked Jim, he said he would love to help out. I know Jim had done a few other charity events and he's enjoyed himself, he said he'd be delighted to help out."

Which showed, almost as if on que, when Thornton rolled back up the hill and got ready to greet his newest competitors.

"It's like Groundhog Day," he said to Wilkinson and Starr with a grin after he parked on the 13th tee  and got out of his cart for the umpteenth time.

Creating at least one memorable moment for many on the local course that day for sure.